Ellie Cornell

Ellie Cornell lights up the screen in 1988's "Halloween 4," and met an untimely demise in the following year's "Halloween 5." Right before we caught up with her she was gearing up for her acting come back in "House of the Dead." That didn't turn out too well for her (or Uwe Boll for that matter) but we still love her to death. Read on to find out what she had to say.

I don't know for certain if Donald and Dominque Girard were at odds...we'll leave it at that.

I guess what we'd all like to know is, why were you away so long? Was there any reason you chose not to work in horror for over a decade? What was it that finally brought you back?

I took a long lapse from show business to have children and give them my undivided attention, after my youngest turned four, I began to remember that I had been an actress and slowly started to rise from the ashes, with a cameo in Free Enterprise in 1998. I had a brief stint on The Specials but I voluntarily cut my bits because I wasn't satisfied with it! O.k., cut to House of the Dead...I helped in the audition process to put actors from L.A. on tape to send to Uwe Boll to view in Vancouver. During the tapings, I read the part of Jordan Casper over and over, and it occured to me that maybe I should be doing the Casper role for real. My husband made me play the House of the Dead video game in an arcade one night and I thought it was a blast! I signed on.

I'm such a huge fan of Halloween 4, what was working on that set like?

Working with Donald Pleasance was such a treat.. he was such a respectful gentleman to me. I was the new kid on the block and was so thrilled to be starring in a film with a good, scary script and I liked Rachel Carruthers from the start. She was smart, fearless, and nobody's fool. The rooftop sequence with Jamie on my back was such a trip, such fun. The director, Dwight Little was a great support to myself and to my co-star, Danielle Harris. We both had a long, arduous shoot.

There were many rumors (which seemed very credible) about tension on the set of Halloween 5, especially between the director (Dominique Girard) and Halloween vet Donald Pleasance? Were you aware at all of these tensions? Did Donald voice any of them to you?

I don't know for certain if Donald and Dominque Girard were at odds...we'll leave it at that.

Was there any resentment at all that your character was killed off so early in that film?

When the Halloween 5 script came my way, I was very reluctant about doing it. The tone felt different to me, the director took a different approach altogether. However, all good characters must come to an end, so I signed on for Rachel's demise after the writers agreed to rewrite my death scene and the deal was sweetened.

What about the "tone" was different to you?

I thought Halloween 5 had more cliches typically associated with horror films, and the characters seemed less carved out. I thought Dwight Little did a great job in Halloween 4 with building up suspense, and the writers created characters you could get behind and route for. That's my take, maybe I'm bias since Halloween 4 was a simpler story about Jamie, Rachel, Dr.Loomis, and of course, Michael Myers. Halloween 4 was much scarier.

Have you seen any of the sequels after H5?

I have not seen any of the sequels since Halloween 5. Are they good? I'd like to see the latest Jamie Lee Curtis installment.

Director Uwe Boll's english seems to be a bit broken (based on my interview with him). Were there any communication problems on the set? How was his demeanor with his actors?

Working with Uwe was such a kick! He works at renegade speed, I'd be getting hair and make-up touch ups (standard fare) and he'd be screaming at the ladies "get out of zear!!!!!! We must SHOOOOOT!" Or "dis is sheeeeet!" He is an original, very passionate fellow.

Ya, I saw that when I interviewed him. Can you tell us a little bit about your character in House of the Dead?

Jordan Casper is a hard-nose, shot-gun-toting honey and nobody's fool who kicks major zombie ass, it was too much fun to pass up. My family said "go for it" so I headed to Vancouver for several weeks in the dense woods with cold, rainy conditions and solid night shoots, it was bliss.

Ya, I got the impression after talking to Uwe that the shoot was a little tough on the actors due to the weather conditions.

There was a tremendous amount of technical difficulty in shooting "House of the Dead", a main reason, I believe, that it deserves a theatrical release. Uwe scored the film with a full orchestra in Germany, and it absolutely rocks.

Did you learn anything from playing such an ass-kicking female?

Playing Casper taught me so much about firearms, my coach had served in the Gulf War and held me up so I wouldn't look like an goofy housewife with a machine gun!

If they told you tomorrow that they were going to bring Rachel back to life for the next Halloween sequel, would you do it? (Feel free to state a dollar amount incase Moustapha is listening :)

Although I have been approached with various ideas of how to bring Rachel back, my sense is that she will stay put where she is. I'm always surprised at how much the "Halloween" fans liked and admired her, a testament to the writers, no doubt. She was pretty cool.

Well thanks for being so cool and sitting down with us to answer our questions. On behalf of the site I'd like to invite you back anytime to chat, for any reason.

Thanks, I've gone on too long !!!! Go see the film and many thanks for your interest. See you on the big screen very soon.